JPH03281280A - Bidirectional printing thermal-transfer type serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform bidirectional printing by a simple mechanism by providing a head wherein the moving direction of a multi-ink ribbon is different in an ink ribbon running route, and a determined length of the multi-ink ribbon using the determined length of the multi-ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:A multi-ink ribbon 5 having certain determined length L is utilized. A heating body 2 is selected at the place of the determined length L of the multi-ink ribbon 5 of a surface G and a head 1 is rotated in a right rotary direction B when printing is carried out in a right printing direction F and printing is applied to appear 17 in the right printing direction F by the heating body 2 while the determined length L of the multi-ink ribbon 5 of the surface G is taken up by a left take-up shaft 6. When printing is applied in the reverse direction, a heating body 3 is selected to rotate the head 1 in the left rotary direction A and printing is applied to the paper 17 in the left printing direction E by the heating body 3 while the determined length L of the multi-ink ribbon 5 of the surface G is moved to a take-up shaft 7. The determined length L of the multi-ink ribbon 5 of the surface G is used many times and the above mentioned mechanism procedure is repeated to make bidirectional printing possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type serial printer in which ink applied to a multi-ink ribbon is melted by a heating head and transferred onto printing paper.

[Prior art 1] Conventionally, this type of thermal transfer serial printer generally uses a unidirectional printing method or a bidirectional printing method using two heads, and in the case of the unidirectional printing method, the winding direction of the multi-ink ribbon is When the head and the multi-ink ribbon touch each other at one place, the printing direction has to be unidirectional, resulting in unidirectional printing. Further, the two-head bidirectional printing system has two heads as described above, and bidirectional printing is performed in the left and right directions.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional thermal transfer serial printer described above prints in one direction, so even if the speed during printing is increased, a return operation after printing is always required, so the average printing speed decreases. There is a disadvantage that the ribbon falls off, and two ribbon cassettes are required for printing in both directions, and there are also two mechanisms for winding the ribbon, making it complicated.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer serial printer capable of bidirectional printing with a simple mechanism.

[Means to solve the problem]

The bidirectional printing thermal transfer serial printer of the present invention has one head with two heating elements, a mechanism that always sends the multi-ink ribbon in the opposite direction to the carrier movement in response to the movement of the gear rear that moves left and right, and a mechanism that always sends the multi-ink ribbon in the opposite direction to the carrier movement. It has a mechanism for selecting one of the two heating elements and bringing that heating element into contact with the multi-ink phone.

[Function] Since there is only one ribbon cassette, printing in both directions is possible, increasing the average printing speed.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bidirectional printing thermal transfer type serial printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the printing process.

The head 1 has heating elements 2.3 at both ends and is rotatably supported on a shaft 4. Ribbon winding shirt l-6,
Reference numerals 7 are used to wind up the multi-ink phone 5 in the left direction and the right direction, respectively, and pulleys 8 and 9 are respectively attached thereto. A pulley 12.1 is attached to the rotating shaft 11 of the dryer 10.
3 are installed. There is a heald 14 between pulleys 8 and 12, and a heald 1 between pulleys 9 and 13.
5, a heald 16 is stretched between the shaft 4 and the rotating shaft 1. These parts are housed in a cassette 18 and moved together in the direction of arrow E or F by a mechanism not shown.

When printing in the direction of the arrow, head 1 moves in the direction of arrow B.
The ribbon winding shaft 6 winds up the multi-ink ribbon 5 in the direction of the arrow C, and the head 1 prints on the paper 7. When printing in the direction of arrow E, the head 1 rotates in the direction of arrow △, and the ribbon winding shirt l-
7 prints on the paper 17 using the winding head 1 of the multi-ink printer 5 in the direction of one arrow. By repeating the above steps, the average printing speed can be increased.

Next, details of how to use the multi-ink ribbon 5 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, a multi-ink ribbon 5 having a predetermined length L is used. Multi-ink phone 5 with defined surface G
Select the heating element 2 at the length ■ -, rotate the head 1 in the head rotation direction B to the right when printing in the right printing direction F, and measure the length L of the multi-ink ribbon 5 with the defined surface G. The paper 17 is printed in the right printing direction F by the heating element 2 while being wound around the left and right take-up shaft 6. When printing in the opposite direction, select heating element 3 and rotate the head in the left rotation direction △.
While moving the multi-ink ribbon 5 having the determined length (G) to the winding shaft 7, the heating element 3 prints on the paper 17 in the left printing direction E.

The length I of the multi-ink phon 5 is determined by G.

Bidirectional printing is possible by repeating the mechanical procedure described above many times. Further, moving to FIG. 2(b), the length of the multi-ink ribbon 5 with the defined surface G is wound around the left and right shaft 6, and the length L of the multi-ink ribbon 5 with the defined surface -■ By using the mechanical procedure described in FIG. 2(a), the average printing speed becomes faster.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention uses a predetermined length of the multi-ink ribbon to move the multi-ink ribbon in different directions in the ink ribbon traveling path or between different heads and the predetermined multi-ink ribbon. The length of the ribbon makes it possible to print in both directions with a simple mechanism, which has the effect of increasing the average printing speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bidirectional printing thermal transfer type serial printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the printing process. 1・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Head, 2,
3...Heating element, 4......
・・・・・・・・・Shaft, 5・・・・・・・・・・・・
・・・・・・Multi-ink phone, 67・・・・・・
・・・・・・Ribbon winding shirt】・, 8912
13...Pulley 10...Motor, 1
1...Rotation axis, 141516...
・・・・・・・・・Held, 17・・・・・・・・・・・・
Paper, l8・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Cassette, ABC, D・・・Rotation direction, E, F・・・・・・・・・・・・Print direction, GH...
......Surface, L...Length.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer serial printer in which ink applied to a multi-ink ribbon is melted by a heating element head and transferred to printing paper, which includes one head having two heating elements and a carrier that moves left and right. It has a mechanism that always sends the multi-ink ribbon in the opposite direction to the carrier movement, and a mechanism that selects one of the two heating elements depending on the left-right movement direction of the carrier and brings that heating element into contact with the multi-ink ribbon. A bidirectional printing thermal transfer serial printer.